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HINDU  ART 


HINDU  ART: 

ITS  HUMANISM  AND   MODERNISM 

An  introductory  essay 

by  i. 

Benoy  Kumar  Sarkar 

Professor,  National  Council  of  Education,  Bengal. 

Author  of  Love  in  Hindu  Literature,  The  Bliss 

of  a  Moment,  Chinese  Religion  Through 

Hindu  Eyes,  Hindu  Achievements 

in  Exact  Science,  etc. 


New  York,  B.  W.  HUEBSCH,  Inc.,  Mcmxx 


COPYRIGHT,  1920,  BY  B.  W.  HUEBSCH,  INC. 
PRINTED  IN  U.  S.  A. 


PREFACE 

"The  Giottos  of  Hindu  art,"  I  wrote 
in  an  article  on  "Oriental  Culture  in 
Modern  Pedagogics"  in  School  and 
Society  (April  14,  1917) ,  "would  be 
well  known  'great  masters'  to  the  stu- 
dents of  early  Renaissance  painting, 
and  the  post-impressionists  and  futur- 
ists of  Eur- America  would  be  found  to 
have  as  their  comrades  in  new  ventures 
and  experiments  the  Hindu  painters  of 
the  modern  nationalist  school." 

Such  was  the  message  also  of  my  talks 
at  the  Pen  and  Brush  Club,  Columbia 
University,  the  Civic  Club,  and  other 
institutions  in  the  United  States,  the 
outcome  of  which  is  this  little  book. 
Parts  of  it  have  appeared  in  the  Jour- 
nal of  Race  Development,  and  in  the 
Modern  Review  (Calcutta). 


CONTENTS 


SECTION  PACE 

I     Art-Criticism  in  Shakoontala     .     .       9 


II     Comparative  Art-History  . 

III  Humanism  in  Hindu  Art  . 

IV  Hindu  Technique  in  Post-Impres 

sionism 


16 

28 

35 


HINDU  ART 

ITS  HUMANISM  AND  MOD- 
ERNISM 

SECTION  I 

ART-CRITICISM   IN   SHAKOONTALA 

In  Kalidasa's  play,  Shakoontala  (fifth 
century  A.  C),  we  have  among  the 
dramatis  personae  Anasuya,  a  dam- 
sel of  the  hermitage,  who  is  skilled  in 
painting.  Besides,  a  considerable  por- 
tion of  Act  VI,  Sc.  ii  is  a  study  in  art 
criticism.  It  introduces  us  to  some  of 
the  themes  of  the  Hindu  painters,  their 
methods  of  execution,  and  the  aesthetic 
taste  of  the  spectators. 

King  Doosyanta  has  through  inad- 
vertence dismissed  his  wife  Shakoon- 

9 


HINDU    ART 


tala  from  the  palace.  He  soon  per- 
ceives his  mistake  and  becomes  love- 
sick. A  picture  of  Shakoontala  is  then 
painted.  The  king  hopes  to  derive 
some  relief  from  this  likeness. 

"(Enter  a  maid  with  a  tablet.) 
Maid.     Your  Majesty,  here  is  the  picture 
of  our  lady. 

(She  produces  the  tablet.) 
King   (gazing  at  it).     It  is  a  beautiful 
picture.     See! 
A  graceful  arch  of  brows  above  great 

eyes; 
Lips   bathed   in   darting,    smiling   light 

that  flies 
Reflected  from  white  teeth;  a  mouth  as 

red 
As  red  karkandhu-fruit;  love's  bright- 
ness shed 
O'er   all  her   face  in  bursts   of  liquid 

charm — 
The  picture  speaks,  with  living  beauty 
warm. 
Clown   (looking  at  it).     The  sketch  is 

10 


HINDU    ART 


full  of  sweet  meaning.     My  eyes  seem 

to    stumble    over    its    uneven    surface. 

What  more  can  I  say?     I  expect  to  see 

it  come  to  life,  and  I  feel  like  speaking 

to  it. 
Mishrakeshi.     The    king    is    a    clever 

painter.     I  seem  to  see  the  dear  girl 

before  me. 
King.     My  friend, 

What  in  the  picture  is  not  fair, 

Is  badly  done; 

Yet  something  of  her  beauty  there, 

I  feel,  is  won. 

•  •»••• 

{Sighing.) 
I  treated  her  with  scorn  and  loathing 

ever; 
Now  o'er  her  pictured  charms  my  heart 

will  burst. 

Clown.     There  are  three  figures  in  the 
picture,  and  they  are  all  beautiful. 
Which  one  is  the  lady  Shakoontala? 

King.     Which  one  do  you  think? 
Clown    (observing   closely).     I   think  it 

ii 


HINDU    ART 


is  this  one,  leaning  against  the  creeper 
which  she  has  just  sprinkled.  Her  face 
is  hot  and  the  flowers  are  dropping  from 
her  hair;  for  the  ribbon  is  loosened. 
Her  arms  droop  like  weary  branches; 
she  has  loosened  her  girdle,  and  she 
seems  a  little  fatigued.  This,  I  think, 
is  the  lady  Shakoontala;  the  others  are 
her  friends. 

King.     You  are  good  at  guessing.     Be- 
sides, here  are  proofs  of  my  love. 
See  where  discolorations  faint 
Of  loving  handling  tell; 
And  here  the  swelling  of  the  paint 
Shows  where  my  sad  tears  fell. 

Chatoorika.     I   have   not   finished   the 
background.     Go,  get  the  brushes. 
...♦•• 

Clown.     What  are  you  going  to  add? 

Mishrakeshi.     Surely,   every  spot  that 
the  dear  girl  loved. 

King.     Listen,  my  fiiend. 

The  stream  of  Malini,  and  on  its  sands 
The  swan-pairs  resting;  holy  foot-hill 
lands 

12 


HINDU    ART 


Of    great    Himalaya's    sacred    ranges, 

where 
The  yaks  are  seen;  and  under  trees  that 

bear 
Bark  hermit-dresses  on  their  branches 

high, 
A  doe  that  on  the  buck's  horn  rubs  her 

eye. 

And  another  ornament  that  Shakoontala 
loved  I  have  forgotten  to  paint. 

•  ••••• 

The  siris-blossom,  fastened  o'er  her  ear, 

Whose  stamens  brush  her  cheek; 

The  lotus-chain  like  autumn  moonlight 

soft 
Upon  her  bosom  meek. 
Clown.  But  why  does  she  cover  her  face 
with  fingers  lovely  as  the  pink  water- 
lily?  She  seems  frightened.  {He 
looks  more  closely.)  I  see.  Here  is 
a  bold,  bad  bee.  He  steals  honey,  and 
so  he  flies  to  her  lotus-face. 

•  ••••• 

King.     Sting  that  dear  lip,  O  bee,  with 
cruel  power, 

13 


HINDU    ART 


And  you  shall  be  imprisoned  in  a  flower. 
Clown.     Well,  he  doesn't  seem  afraid  of 

your  dreadful  punishment.   .  .   . 
King.     Will  he  not  go,  though  I  warn 

him? 


Clown    {aloud).     It  is  only  a  picture, 
man." 

(Ryder's  version.) 

There  is  no  touch  of  pessimism, 
idealism,  or  subjectivism  in  all  these  re- 
marks and  suggestions.  A  modern 
lover  examining  the  photo  or  oil  paint- 
ing of  his  darling  could  not  be  more 
realistic. 

Does  this  conversation  open  up  to  us 

a  society  of  ascetics  or  yogins  waiting 
for  Divine  illumination  to  evolve 
shilpa  (art)  out  of  the  neo-Platonic 
meditation  or  the  Hindu  dhyana?  Or 
does  it  make  the  India  of  the  fifth  cen- 
tury a  cognate  of  the  modern  world  in 


HINDU    ART 


its  matter-of-fact  sober  grasp   of   the 
realities  of  flesh  and  blood? 

It  is  really  a  specimen  of  Hindu  pos- 
itivism that  Kalidasa,  the  Shakespeare 
of  Hindu  literature,  has  furnished  in 
this  bit  of  discussion  in  pictorial  art. 
We  feel  how  profound  humanists  the 
Hindu  audiences  were  in  their  outlook, 
how  non-mystical  in  their  views  and 
criticisms  in  regard  to  chitra-lakshana 
(i.  e.j  "marks"  of  a  painting). 


i* 


SECTION  II 

COMPARATIVE  ART-HISTORY 

AND  yet  European  and  American 
scholars  as  well  as  their  Asian  para- 
phrasers  have  tried  to  discover  and 
demonstrate  an  Oriental  pessimism  in 
the  arts  and  crafts  of  the  Hindus.  It  is 
generally  held  that  the  inspiration  of 
Hindu  painters  and  sculptors  is  totally 
different  from  that  of  the  Westerns. 
The  images  and  pictures  executed  by 
the  artists  of  India  are  believed  to  have 
been  the  products  of  Yoga,  of  an  ultra- 
meditative  consciousness.  They  are 
said  to  reveal  a  much  too  subjective  or 
idealistic  temperament.  Further,  they 
are  all  alleged  to  be  religious  or  mytho- 
logical in  theme. 

16 


HINDU    ART 


Comparative  art-history  would  indi- 
cate, however,  that  Hindu  plastic  art 
or  drawing  has  not  been  the  handmaid 
of  theology  to  a  far  greater  extent  than 
the  classical  and  medieval  works  of 
Europe.  Is  it  not  Greek  mythology 
that  we  see  embodied  in  the  sculptures 
of  Phidias?  Similarly  are  not  the 
Catholic  and  Russian  paintings  mere 
aids  to  the  popularization  of  the  Bible 
stories?  Indeed,  art  has  long  been 
more  or  less  "illustrative"  of  history, 
legends,  traditions,  and  myths  both  in 
the  East  and  the  West. 

We  do  not  know  much  of  the  Greek 
paintings.  But  we  know  the  legends 
in  the  drawings  on  the  Greek  vases  of 
the  fifth  century  B.  C.  In  one  the  ser- 
pent is  being  strangled  by  Heracles,  al- 
most as  if  the  hydra  Kaliya  is  being 
quelled  by  Krishna;  in  another  Theseus 

17 


HINDU    ART 


is  fighting  the  Amazons ;  and  in  a  third 
Gorgon  is  pursuing  Perseus  or  Kadmos 
killing  the  dragon.  What  else  are  the 
themes  of  the  medieval  Purana-paint- 
ers?  And  Hindus  whose  infancy  is 
nurtured  on  the  stories  and  paintings  of 
the  Ramayana  will  easily  remember  fa- 
miliar scenes  in  the  colored  terra  cot- 
tas  of  Hellas  which  portray,  for  in- 
stance, a  Paris  in  the  act  of  leading 
away  Helen,  or  the  parting  of  Hector 
and  Andromache. 

It  may  be  confidently  asserted,  be- 
sides, that  the  spiritual  atmosphere  of 
Gothic  cathedrals  of  the  thirteenth 
century  with  their  soul-inspiring  sculp- 
tures in  alabaster  and  bronze  has  not 
been  surpassed  in  the  architecture  of 
the  East.  The  pillars  at  Chartres  with 
has  reliefs  of  images  and  flowers  could 
be  bodily  transported  to  the  best  relig- 

18 


HINDU    ART 


ious  edifices  of  Hindustan.  The  elon- 
gated Virgin  at  the  Paris  Notre  Dame 
is  almost  as  conventionalized  as  a  Kor- 
ean Kwannon.  The  representation  of 
virtues  and  vices  on  the  portal  of  the 
Savior  at  the  Amiens  Cathedral  sug- 
gests the  moralizing  in  woodwork  on 
the  walls  of  Nikko  in  Japan.  And 
scenes  from  the  Passion  on  the  tym- 
panum at  Strassburg  or  from  the  Last 
Judgment  on  the  tympanum  of  the 
north  door  in  the  Cathedral  at  Paris  are 
oriented  to  the  same  psychological 
background  as  the  has  reliefs  depicting 
incidents  in  the  holy  career  of  Buddha 
with  which  the  Stoopas  (mounds)  of 
Central  India  make  us  familiar,  or  of 
the  Dalai  Lama  on  the  surface  of  the 
marble  pagoda  at  Peking. 

Further,  it  may  be  asked,  can  any 
Classicist  rationally  declare   that  the 

19 


HINDU    ART 


Greek  Apollos  are  not  the  creations  of 
subjective,  the  so-called  yogic  or  medi- 
tative experience?  In  what  respects 
are  the  figures  of  the  Hindu  Buddhas 
and  Shivas  more  idealistic?  Polyklei- 
tos,  for  instance,  dealt  with  abstract  hu- 
manity, ideals,  or  "airy  nothings"  in  the 
same  sense  as  the  artists  of  the  Goopta 
period  (A.  c.  300-600)  or  Dhiman  and 
Vitapala  of  the  Pala  period  (780- 
1 175)  in  India.  Nowhere  has  a  sculp- 
tured image,  has  relief,  or  colored 
drawing  been  completely  "photograph- 
ic." Art  as  such  is  bound  to  be  inter- 
pretative or  rather  originative;  and 
identification  of  the  artist's  self  with  his 
theme  is  the  sine  qua  non  of  all  creative 
elan,  in  science  as  in  art. 

We  have  to  recognize,  moreover,  that 
saints  and  divinities  are  not  the  exclu- 
sive   themes    of    art   work    in    India. 

20 


HINDU    ART 


Hindu  art  has  flourished  in  still  life, 
social  (genre),  natural,  plant,  and  ani- 
mal studies  as  well.  The  avoidance  of 
the  nude  in  early  Christian  art  has  its 
replica  in  the  East.  Physical  beauty 
was  not  more  often  a  taboo  in  Hindu 
art-psychology  than  in  the  Western. 
The  dignity  of  the  flesh  has  left  its 
stamp  on  India's  water  colors,  gouache 
paintings,  and  stone  and  bronze. 

Even  the  figures  of  the  Hindu  gods 
and  goddesses  are  to  be  perceived 
as  projections  of  the  human  person- 
ality. The  medieval  Rajput  paint- 
ings of  the  Radha-Krishna  cycle  and 
the  Shiva-Doorga  cycle  can  have  but 
one  secular  appeal  to  all  mankind. 
Accordingly  we  are  not  surprised  to, 
find  in  Dhananjaya  the  medieval 
dramaturgist's  Dash'a-roopa  the  dic- 
tum that  anything  and  everything  can 

21 


HINDU    ART 


be  the  theme  of  art   (IV,  90,  Haas's 
transl.). 

Lastly,  can  one  forget  that  the  condi- 
tions of  life  that  produced  the  Byzan- 
tine and  Italian  masterpieces  were  al- 
most similar  to  the  milieu  (economic 
and  socio-religious)  including  court 
patronage  and  guild  control,  under 
which  flourished  the  celebrated  Ajanta 
painters  and  Bharhut  sculptors?  For 
in  the  Middle  Ages  in  Asia  as  in  Eu- 
rope the  church  or  the  temple  was  the 
school,  the  art-gallery,  and  the  mu- 
seum; the  priests  and  monks  were 
painters,  poets,  calligraphists  and  peda- 
gogues; and  the  Scriptures  constituted 
the  whole  encyclopaedia.  And  if  to- 
day it  is  possible  for  the  Western  mind 
to  appreciate  Fra  Angelico,  Massaccio, 
and  Giotto,  it  cannot  honestly  ignore 
the  great  masters  of  the  Hindu  styles, 

22 


HINDU    ART 


especially  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the 
works  of  the  Oriental  medievals  are 
not  more  "imperfect"  in  technique  ac- 
cording to  modern  ideas  than  those  of 
their  Occidental  fellow-artists. 

The  fundamental  identity  of  artistic 
inspiration  between  the  East  and  the 
West,  allowing  for  the  differences  in 
schools  and  epochs  in  each,  is  inci- 
dentally borne  out  by  coincidences  in 
social  life  for  which  art  work  is  respon- 
sible. Thus,  the  interior,  nave  and 
aisles  of  the  Buddhist  cave  temples  do 
not  impress  an  observer  with  any  feel- 
ings different  from  those  evoked  by  the 
early  Christian  churches  and  Norman 
Cathedrals.  The  towers  and  contours 
of  the  twelfth  century  Romanesque 
Cathedral  at  Ely  and  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury Gothic  structure  at  Orleans  have 
the    ensemble    of    the    gopoorams    of 

23 


HINDU    ART 


Southern  India.  And  the  Gothic  tap- 
estries representing  the  hunting  scenes 
of  a  Duke  of  Burgundy  suggest  at  the 
very  first  sight  the  aspects  of  medieval 
Hindu  castles  and  the  figures  and  head- 
dresses of  the  Indo-Saracenic  Moghul 
styles. 

It  may  sometimes  be  difficult  for  a 
non-Hindu  fully  to  appreciate  the  im- 
ages and  paintings  of  India  because 
their  conventions  and  motifs  are  so  pe- 
culiarly Hindu.  Exactly  the  same  dif- 
ficulty arises  with  regard  to  Western 
art.  Who  but  a  Christian  can  find  in- 
spiration in  a  Last  Supper  or  a  Holy 
Family  or  a  God  dividing  light  from 
darkness?  For  that  matter,  even  the 
Aeneid  would  be  unintelligible  to  the 
modern  Eur- American  lovers  of  poetry 
unless  they  made  it  a  point  to  study 
Roman  history.     Nay,  a  well-educated 

24 


HINDU    ART 


Jew  may  naturally  fail  to  respond  to 
the  sentiments  in  the  Divine  Comedy 
or  Signorelli's  Scenes  from  Dante. 

But  the  difficulties  of  appreciation 
by  foreigners  do  not  make  an  art-work 
necessarily  "local"  or  racial.  It  may 
still  be  universal  in  its  appeal  and  thor- 
oughly humanistic.  There  are  hardly 
any  people  who  in  modern  times  can 
enter  into  the  spirit  of  the  Ka  statues 
which  stand  by  the  sarcophagi  in  the 
cave  tombs  of  the  Pharaohs.  And  yet 
how  essentially  akin  to  modern  man- 
kind were  the  Egyptians  if  we  can  de- 
pend on  the  evidences  of  their  letters  1 
A  Ka  is  described  in  one  of  the  inscrip- 
tions thus:  "He  was  an  exceptional 
man;  wise,  learned,  displaying  true 
moderation  of  mind,  distinguishing  the 
wise  man  from  the  fool;  a  father  to  the 
unfortunate,  a  mother  to  the  motherless, 

25 


HINDU    ART 


the  terror  of  the  cruel,  the  protector  of 
the  disinherited,  the  defender  of  the  op- 
pressed, the  husband  of  the  widow,  the 
refuge  of  the  orphan."  There  is  no 
gap  in  fundamental  humanity  between 
the  men  and  women  of  to-day  and  the 
race  that  could  write  such  an  epitaph, 
in  spite  of  the  fact  that  many  of  its  con- 
ventions and  usages  seem  entirely  mean- 
ingless. 

The  student  of  foreign  literature  has 
specially  to  qualify  himself  in  order 
that  he  may  understand  the  unfamiliar 
idioms  of  its  language  and  the  peculiar 
turns  of  expression.  No  other  qualifi- 
cation is  demanded  in  modern  men  and 
women  for  an  appreciation  of  the  old 
and  distant  carvings,  statuettes  and 
drawings.  The  chief  desideratum  is 
really  an  honest  patience  with  the  ra- 

26 


HINDU    ART 


cial  modes  and  paraphernalia  of  for- 
eign art. 

With  this  elementary  preparation  the 
Occidental  connoisseur  should  be  able 
to  say  about  Hindu  sculptures  and 
paintings  what  Max  Weber  writes  about 
all  antiques  in  his  essay  on  "Tradition 
and  Now" :  "Whether  we  have  changed 
or  not,  I  believe,  in  spite  of  all  the  man- 
ifestos to  the  contrary,  in  whatever 
tongue  they  be  written  or  spoken,  that 
the  antiques  will  live  as  long  as  the  sun 
shines,  as  long  as  there  is  mother  and 
child,  as  long  as  there  are  seasons  and 
climes,  as  long  as  there  is  life  and 
death,  sorrow  and  joy."  (Essays  on 
Art.) 


27 


SECTION  III 

HUMANISM   IN   HINDU  ART 

IN  Shookra-neeti,  a  Hindu  sociolog- 
ical treatise,  we  read  a  few  injunc- 
tions against  the  construction  of  human 
images.  We  are  told  that  "the  images 
of  gods,  even  if  deformed,  are  for  the 
good  of  men.  But  the  images  of  men, 
even  if  well  formed,  are  never  for  hu- 
man good."  Shookra's  generally  rec- 
ognized dictum  seems  to  be  that  "the 
images  of  gods  yield  happiness  to  men, 
and  lead  to  heaven;  but  those  of  men 
lead  away  from  heaven  and  yield 
grief."  (Ch.  IV,  Sec,  iv,  lines  154— 
158,  Sarkar's  transl.) 

Verses    of    a    similar    import    from 
shilpa-shastras    (treatises   on   arts   and 

28 


HINDU    ART 


crafts)  may  be  used  as  texts  by  those 
who  want  to  prove  the  wholly  non-sec- 
ular character  of  Hindu  art.  But  such 
art  critics  would  commit  the  same  fal- 
lacy as  those  psychologists  who  formu- 
late the  race-ideal  of  the  entire  Hindu 
population  of  all  ages  on  the  strength 
of  a  few  sayings  of  Shakya  the  Buddha 
and  other  moralists.  In  spite  of 
Shookra,  Hindus  have  had  sculptures 
of  human  beings  in  the  streets  and  pub- 
lic places,  has  reliefs  of  warrior-kings 
on  coins,  and  paintings  of  men  and 
women  on  the  walls  of  their  houses,  pal- 
aces, and  art  galleries.  Secular  art  was 
an  integral  part  of  their  common  life. 
Imagery  and  similes  from  the  worldly 
paintings  and  sculptures  are  some  of 
the  stock-in-trade  embellishments  of 
every  literary  work,  e.  g.,  poetry,  fic- 
tion, drama,  in  India. 

29 


HINDU    ART 


In  Soobandhu's  prose  romance,  Vas- 
avadatta  (sixth  century  A.  C),  there  is 
a  description  of  the  Vindhya  mountain. 
One  of  the  objects  mentioned  is  the  lion 
"with  his  sinewy  frame,  now  rising 
high  behind  and  now  before."  And 
the  author  is  at  once  led  to  think  of  the 
scene  as  a  possible  theme  of  painting. 
Thus, 

"His    ears    erect,    in    sudden    onslaught 

skilled, 
His  mane  astart,  and  jaws  all  hideous, 
His    stiffened    tail    high-waving    in     the 

breeze — 
No  artist  could  portray  this  awful  beast 
What  time  he   croucheth  on   the  mighty 

brow 
Of  some  great  elephant,  shrill  trumpeting 
Adown    the    lonely    dells    of    Vindhya's 

mount." 

(Gray's  version.) 

Painting  was  an  accomplishment  of 
the     literary    women.     The     box    of 

30 


HINDU    ART 


paints,  canvas,  pencil,  tapestry,  and  pic- 
ture-frames are  referred  to  in  Charu- 
datta,  Clay  Cart,  Raghu-vamsha,  Oot- 
tara-rama-charita  and  Kadambaree. 
All  these  references  apply  to  mundane 
paintings.  In  Vasavadatta,  again,  Pa- 
talipootra  (Patna)  is  described  as  a  city 
of  which  the  conspicuous  objects  are 
the  statues,  which  adorn  the  white- 
washed houses. 

It  is  almost  a  convention  with  the 
heroes  and  heroines  of  Hindu  literature 
to  speak  of  the  faces  of  their  beloved  as 
"pictures  fixed  on  the  walls  of  the 
heart."  This  conceit  occurs  even  in 
Krishnamishra's  morality-play,  Pra- 
bodha-chandrodaya  (ele^^enilx  cen- 
tury). 

In  Soobandhu's  romance  the  heroine 
Vasavadatta  is  seen  by  Kandarpaketu 
in  a  dream.     She  "was  a  picture,  as  it 

3i 


HINDU    ART 


were,  on  the  wall  of  life."  And  when 
he  awoke  he  "embraced  the  sky,  and 
with  outstretched  arms  cried  to  his  be- 
loved, as  if  she  were  painted  in  the 
heavens,  graven  on  his  eyes,  and  carven 
on  his  heart."  Kandarpaketu  goes  to 
sleep  "looking  on  that  most  dear  one  as 
if  limned  by  the  pencil  of  fancy  on  the 
tablet  of  his  heart." 

Similarly  Vasavadatta  thinks  of 
Kandarpaketu  "as  if  he  were  carven  on 
her  heart  ...  as  if  he  were  engraved 
there,  inlaid,  riveted."  She  exclaims 
to  one  of  her  maidens:  "Trace  in  a 
picture  the  thief  of  my  thoughts." 
And,  "over  and  over  thinking  thus,  as 
if  he  were  painted  on  the  quarters  and 
sub-quarters  (of  the  sky),  as  if  he  were 
engraved  on  the  cloud,  as  if  he  were  re- 
flected in  her  eye,  she  painted  him  in  a 
picture  as  if  he  had  been  seen  before." 

32 


HINDU    ART 


The  joy  of  life  in  all  its  manifesta- 
tions is  the  one  grand  theme  of  all 
Hindu  art.  It  is  futile  to  approach  the 
sculptors  and  painters  of  India  with  the 
notion  of  finding  a  typically  Hindu 
message  in  them.  The  proper  method 
should  be  to  watch  how  far  and  in  what 
manner  the  artist  has  achieved  his  ends 
as  artist;  i.  e.,  as  manipulator  of  forms 
and  colors.  Interpretation  of  life,  or 
"criticism  of  life"  may  be  postulated  of 
every  great  worker  in  ink,  bronze,  or 
clay,  whether  in  the  East  or  in  the 
West.  The  only  test  of  a  masterpiece, 
however,  is  ultimately  furnished  by  the 
questions:  "Is  it  consistent  in  itself? 
Does  this  handiwork  of  man  add  to  the 
known  types  of  the  universe?  Has  it 
extended  the  bounds  of  Creation?" 

Human  ideals  are  the  same  all  the 
world  over.     One  piece  of  art  in  India 

33 


HINDU    ART 


may  be  superior  to  another  in  Europe, 
and  vice  versa.  But  this  superiority  is 
not  necessarily  a  superiority  in  art-ideal 
or  race-genius.  It  has  to  be  credited  to 
the  individual  gifts  of  the  master  in 
workmanship,  or  perhaps  to  the  group 
psychology  of  a  creative  epoch.  There 
is  but  one  standard  for  all  art  (shilpa), 
but  one  world-measure  for  all  human 
energy  (shakti).  And  since  neither 
the  Eastern  nor  the  Western  evolution 
can  be  summed  up  in  single  shibboleths, 
types,  or  schools,  it  would  be  absurd  to 
try  to  appraise  Indian  experience  solely 
in  terms  of  the  aesthetics  that  found  one 
of  its  most  powerful  expressions  in  the 
art-theory  of  the  Young  Germany  rep- 
resented by  Cornelius,  Overbeck,  Schil- 
ler and  others  (cf.  Schiller's  Use  of  the 
Chorus). 

34 


SECTION  IV 

HINDU  TECHNIQUE  IN  POST-IMPRES- 
SIONISM 

"MODERN"  is  the  term  that  seems  to 
have  been  monopolized  by  the  artists 
who  claim  Cezanne  as  their  inspirer. 
And  yet  in  this  modernism  Old  India's 
paintings  and  sculptures  have  been  a 
stimulating  force. 

The  plastic  art-creations  at  Bharhut 
and  the  frescoes  at  Ajanta  constitute  in 
stone  and  color,  as  we  have  indicated, 
the  poetry  of  the  whole  gamut  of  hu- 
man emotions  from  "the  ape  and  tiger" 
to  the  "god-in-man."  The  encyclo- 
paedic humanism  of  Hindu  art  is  in- 
deed comparable  only  to  the  compre- 

35 


HINDU    ART 


hensive  secularism  in  the  painted  bas 
reliefs  of  Egyptian  hill-caves  and  the 
stately  Kakemonos  of  the  Chinese  mas- 
ters. While  the  message  of  the  artists 
and  craftsmen  of  India  is  thus  universal 
as  the  man  of  flesh  and  blood,  they  de- 
veloped certain  peculiarities  in  the 
technique  and  mode  of  expression 
which  "he  that  runs  may  read." 

The  most  prominent  characteristic  of 
Hindu  sculptures  and  paintings  is  what 
may  be  called  the  "dance-form."  We 
see  the  figures,  e.  g.,  Shiva,  the  prince 
of  dancers,  or  Krishna,  the  flute-player, 
in  action,  doing  something,  in  the  sup- 
ple movement  of  limbs.  Lines  of 
graceful  motion,  the  play  of  geometric 
contours,  the  ripple  of  forms,  the  flow- 
ing rhythm  of  bends  and  joints  in  space 
would  arrest  the  eye  of  every  observer 
of  the  bronzes,  water-colors,  and  gou- 

36 


HINDU    ART 


ache  works  in  India.  Another  charac- 
teristic that  cannot  fail  to  be  noticed  is 
the  elimination  of  details,  the  suppres- 
sion of  minuter  individualities,  on  the 
one  hand,  and,  on  the  other,  the  occa- 
sional elongation  of  limbs,  the  exagger- 
ation of  features,  etc.  All  this  is 
brought  about  by  the  conscious  impro- 
vising of  a  new  "artistic  anatomy"  out 
of  the  natural  anatomy  known  to  the  ex- 
act science  of  Ayurveda  (medicine). 
In  the  swollen  breasts,  narrowed  waists, 
bulky  hips,  etc.,  of  Late  Minoan  or 
Cretan  (c.  1500  B.C.)  works  which 
bridged  the  gulf  between  the  Pharaonic 
and  the  primitive  Hellenic  arts  we  can 
see  the  analogues  or  replicas  of  some  of 
the  Hindu  conventions. 

Leaving  aside  other  characteristics, 
e.  g.,  the  absence  of  perspective,  the 
grouping  of  color-masses,  the  free  lais- 

37 


HINDU    ART 


sez  faire  treatment  of  sentiments,  and 
so  forth,  one  can  easily  pick  up  the 
Hindu  elements  from  the  Cezannesque 
paintings  and  Rodin's  sculptures  and 
drawings. 

Let  us  listen  first  to  Rodin  lecturing 
on  the  beauties  of  Venus  of  Melos: 

"In  the  synthesis  of  the  work  of  art 
the  arms,  the  legs,  count  only  when  they 
meet  in  accordance  with  the  planes  that 
associate  them  in  a  same  effect;  and  it  is 
thus  in  nature,  who  cares  not  for  our  an- 
alytical description.  The  great  artists 
proceed  as  nature  composes  and  not  as 
anatomy  decrees.  They  never  sculp- 
ture any  muscle,  any  nerve,  any  bone, 
for  itself;  it  is  the  whole  at  which  they 
aim  and  which  they  express."  (Dud- 
ley's transl.,  p.  15.)  It  is  this  theoriz- 
ing that  virtually  underlies  Hindu  art 
work. 

38 


HINDU    ART 


Similarly  Vincent  Van  Gogh  (1830- 
1890) ,  the  Dutch  painter,  who,  if  not  in 
execution  like  Cezanne,  has,  at  least  in 
ideal,  pioneered  the  new  art  movement 
of  to-day,  seems  almost  to  have  given 
the  theory  of  Hindu  art  from  the  side 
of  painting.     Says  he: 

"I  should  despair  if  my  figures  were 
correct;  ...  I  think  Michaelangelo's 
figures  magnificent,  even  though  the 
legs  are  certainly  too  long  and  the  hips 
and  the  pelvis  bones  a  little  too  broad. 
.  .  .  It  is  my  most  fervent  desire  to 
know  how  one  can  achieve  such  devia- 
tions from  reality,  such  inaccuracies 
and  such  transfigurations,  that  come 
about  by  chance.  Well,  if  you  like, 
they  are  lies,  but  they  are  more  valuable 
than  the  real  values."  ( The  Letters  of 
a  Post-Impressionist,  transl.  from  the 
German  by  A.  M.  Ludovici,  p.  23.) 

39 


HINDU    ART 


Rodin  was  charged  with  the  crime  of 
being  an  "innovator"  in  art,  for  he  in- 
troduced movement  and  action  in  stat- 
uary. His  St.  Jean  Baptiste  (1880)  is 
a  specimen  in  point,  as  also  the  inter- 
laced figure's  like  the  Hand  of  God 
holding  man  and  woman  in  embrace, 
Cupid  and  Psyche,  Triton  and  Nereid, 
etc.  In  regard  to  this  "new  tech- 
nique," the  representation  of  activity, 
we  are  told  by  Van  Gogh  that  the  "an- 
cients did  not  feel  this  need."  "To 
render  the  peasant  form  at  work  is,"  as 
he  reiterates,  "the  peculiar  feature,  the 
very  heart  of  modern  art,  and  that  is 
something  which  was  done  neither  by 
the  Renaissance  painters  nor  the  Dutch 
masters,  nor  by  the  Greeks."  {The 
Letters,  22,  24.) 

It  is  thus  clear  why  the  theory  and 
practice  that  seek  movement  in  art- 

40 


HINDU    ART 


forms,  appreciate  an  "incorrect"  anat- 
omy, and  look  upon  arbitrary  propor- 
tions not  as  distortions  but  rather  as 
"restorations,"  should  find  an  affinity 
with  the  work  of  the  Hindu  masters. 
And  the  psychology  of  this  post-im- 
pressionist a.rt-credo  is  perfectly  nat- 
ural, because  like  the  previous  pre- 
Raphaelitism  and  the  still  earlier  ro- 
manticism, the  new  art  movement  is  es- 
sentially a  revolt.  It  is  a  reaction 
against  the  Academicians'  rule  of 
thumb.  It  is  born  of  a  Bolshevistic 
discontent  with  the  things  that  be,  and 
of  a  desire  to  search  for  truth  and 
beauty  from  far  and  old. 

This  latest  revolution  against  the 
status  quo  of  art  was  brought  about 
when  Gauguin,  the  French  master,  con- 
ceived "the  truth  that  the  modern  Eu- 
ropean and  his  like  all  over  the  globe, 

4i 


HINDU    ART 


could  not  and  must  not,  be  the  type  of 
the  future.  Any  thing  rather  than 
that!  Even  black  men  and  women 
were  better  than  that — cannibals,  idol- 
ators,  savages,  anything!"  (Ludovi- 
ci's  introduction  to  The  Letters,  p.  xii) . 
Such  being  their  article  of  faith,  con- 
temporary artists  have  been  seized  by 
Wanderlust.  To-day  they  draw  their 
inspiration  from  the  Mexicans,  May- 
ans, and  other  American-Indians,  from 
the  Negro  art  of  the  Congo  regions, 
from  Karnak  and  Nineveh,  from  the 
Tanagras  of  Greece  and  the  "primi- 
tives" of  Italy.  And  they  roll  their 
eyes  from  "China  to  Peru."  Conse- 
quently the  Buddhist,  Shaiva,  Vaish- 
nava,  Moghul,  and  Rajput  art  of  the 
Hindus  could  not  but  have  been  requi- 
sitioned to  enlarge  the  list  of  the  new 
Ossians  and  Percy's  Reliques  as  whet- 

42 


HINDU    ART 


ters  of  the  futuristic  imagination  in  the 
Western  World. 

And  the  creative  art  endeavors  of 
Young  India's  futurists  are  neither 
mere  calls  for  "Back  to  the  Past"  nor 
harangues  inciting  to  "Down  with  the 
West,"  as  superficial  observers  or  pro- 
fessional spiritualitarians  would  seem 
to  read  in  the  literary  proclamations  of 
the  school.  These  are  but  the  initial 
surgings  of  a  dynamic  shakti  (energy) 
that  had  been  pent  up  for  a  century  and 
a  half, — in  its  sadhana  (effort)  toward 
achieving  the  assimilation  of  this  cos- 
mic neo-eclecticism  of  the  modern 
world;  so  that  a  synthetic  stage  of  cul- 
tural sva-raj  (self-determination)  may 
ultimately  evolve,  on  which  Asia  will 
be  enabled,  as  of  old,  freely  to  move 
and  to  strive,  to  un-make  and  to  make, 
— boldly  to  borrow  and  to  lend  as  an  in- 

43 


HINDU    ART 


dependent  unit  in  the  bourse  of  spir- 
itual exchange, — unhampered  to  strug- 
gle, to  experiment,  to  live. 


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